There’s a reason this website is called No Excuse Scrapbooking. Some people may think the idea is a little harsh, but it’s not. It’s all about seeing yourself in a positive framework.

We all make excuses about why we can’t do things, whether it’s scrapbooking or gourmet cooking or hang gliding. We all claim we don’t have enough time, or enough money, or enough guts to do whatever it is we say we want to do. But that’s not really the problem.

The problem is we’re afraid.

What if we get it wrong? What if we show what we make to other people and they don’t value it as much as we do? What if the design becomes dated? What if we spell something wrong? What if it DOES take hours to create? What if it doesn’t? What if we really are boring?

What if we like it?

The thing about excuses is that they carry over into other parts of our lives. They become the dead weights that prevent us from becoming who we want to be. They become all the reasons we CAN’T do something. As if we’re incapable of being creative or thoughtful or joyful or productive.

I’m here to tell you that you CAN do things. You ARE an amazing person. You can be creative. You can appreciate your life, right now, in all its mundane, routine, exciting minutia. You can celebrate your life. You can MAKE things. All sorts of messy, gorgeous creative stuff that you never really believed that you could.

Because the difference between excuses and reasons are a state of mind. Excuses are our inner demons telling us we’re not good enough, that we CAN’T. Reasons are us saying we can, but we choose not to.

And that’s what it all comes down to. You don’t have to scrapbook, or cook gourmet meals, or hang glide, but it should be because you choose not to, and not because you’ve got a great big pile of excuses standing in your way.

Excuses are the things that stop us from being ourselves.

You’re not going to let those excuses stop you, are you?

You can make something wonderful! Why don’t you start now?